DannyHesterly

A thought for my NN students

Alright NN Students...we had such a great service this past Sunday Night. There was soooo much energy in the room! The worship band flat out brought it and your response to God's presence was amazing.

This is what I want you to consider...bring just ONE friend with you to the rest of this series. They'll get fed a couple of times, hang out, hear some great music...and you never know their life could be changed forever. How many of you will accept that challenge. School is gearing up and there's not a better time to get those relationships back on track. Let's do this! The only question you need to be asking yourself is..."Who am I going to bring?"

New Teaching Series

NUNATION is BACK 8.7.11

Summer @ NUNATION

This summer @ NUNATION, we're changing some things up in order for us to maximize our time, have small group leader trainings and other things before the new school year starts. Erin and I truly believe that this coming school year will be a year of amazing growth both numerically and spiritually. This summer, NUNATION is on aSWAP. We're moving our usual Sunday night service to Wednesday night from 630-8pm (with doors opening @6pm). We'll still meet in the Student Center, but students can expect things to be a bit different from our regular Sunday night service. We still have plenty of things going on to keep students plugged-in with SWAP, Fat Thursdays and our 2 mission trips. Below is our summer schedule for NUNATION. Parents, be sure to do all you can to see your son/daughter stay plugged-in during the summer. We want them to fully experience and encounter life-change through Jesus and you are a major contributor in seeing that they are here for NUNATION. 

• June 5- Last NUNATION service before summer schedule
• June 15- SWAP Begins
• June 22- SWAP
• June 29- NO SWAP...students on Illuminate Mission trip
• July 6- SWAP
• July 13- SWAP
• July 20- NO SWAP...students on TEAMeffort Mission trip
• July 27- SWAP
• August 3- SWAP
• August 7- NUNATION 2011-2012 begins...6 weeks before Middle School Fall Retreat!!!

New Series coming May 15th...going to be AMAZING!!!

I wanted to give a quick shout out to creation swap. If you're like me and need help designing graphics this is a great site to get ideas and concepts. What I normally do is look around and take bits and pieces from different graphics, combine them, tweak them, whatever I need to do to get the look and feel of our new sermon series. Hope this tool comes in handy for some. Enjoy!

Live like Jesus...

"And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments. If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth.  But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did" 1 John 2:3-6

For the past couple of weeks, NUNATION student ministries has been in a series called, "SERVE."  It has been awesome to put our faith and love into action!!! I was blown away with my middle/high school students in letting their character be sharpened by putting their normal Sunday connivence to the way side in order that they might help out a family in getting their yard and house in order for spring time. It's not that we did a complete overhaul of the people's homes, but worked together in unity for a common purpose. Here's what was accomplished in our 2 Sundays:

• Raked leaves for 8 homes
• Cleaned around 40 windows
• Picked up sticks, trash in the community
• Swept porches and parking lot
• Mowed 3 yards
• Walked around praying for the neighborhood
• Laid mulch for the Lighthouse Counseling Center

Those who are devoted followers of Jesus...we are called to see the needs around us and do our best to serve our neighbors. That's what this series, "SERVE" was all about. Living like Jesus doesn't end with a series, but continues everyday! Everyday, keep your eyes/ears open to meet a need...to be aware of what's happening in the lives of those you see. You are the Hands and Feet of Jesus! What an awesome responsibility :)

The bubble or whatever that thing is called

As a leader, what echoes from our daily lives speaks volumes about our convictions, direction and  sense of purpose. I'm not a huge comic book guy, but I like to read them from time to time. And every comic book I've read has these bubbles over the characters heads letting us know what they are thinking, saying and about to do. Without those bubbles letting us know what's going on inside the characters mind it could be a little more more difficult to figure out what exactly is going on. Now the graphics/pictures are pretty amazing and there are some pages that can stand alone with no text, but it's the bubbles that really give direction to the comic book. I wonder what our lives would be like if we walked around with bubbles over our heads letting people know what is really on our mind, what we believe, our dreams, our passions, give a heads up to someone who we're about to go WHAM...WHACK Batman style on...no more secrets...no more hiding...the world needs to see Jesus made alive in the frailty of humanity. 

To be a fully, devoted follower of Jesus it's important for those you hang with know what your bubble says and who it points to. I don't want my life/actions to mislead anyone about who I'm really following, which is a struggle but it's through those struggles/conflicts that makes our bubble really defined on who we are following. In the first chapter in the book of Romans, Paul makes a statement that he's not ashamed of the Gospel. I'm a huge Fighting Illini fan and I'm not ashamed to let people know that I'll be rooting for them to win the NCAA Tourney this year and I'll be all decked out in Illini orange  (I can dream right). I'm not saying we should be uber crazy and fanatic about sharing Jesus to the world that it's so intrusive it repels people from the message of hope. But our lives should clearly mark where and to whom our bubble points to...to a God that's is full of grace. What does your bubble say about you today? Where/Who is it pointing to?

Weigh the Cost...

Every so often, God reminds me about keeping the important things in my life important. That's easier to say than to accomplish becasue, I don't know about you, but my life can get pretty busy with all kinds of things that seem to be important. The reality is...I wear all kinds of hats and it's hard to juggle life at times. I'm a husband, dad, brother, uncle, friend, generational ministries pastor, student pastor, mentor, graphic designer (a not very good one), website updater guy, blogger, athlete, learner, when buzz lightyear's helmet comes off fixer person, etc. Where do I give most of my time to? How can you create balance when things are often lop-sided? To me, all these areas are important  and they're important to those I help, counsel, play with and give my life to.

My wife, Erin, has always been a great voice of reality in my life. Where I think, I can always come to some compromise and make everyone happy...she voices it's not possible and it's not healthy to try to be that kind of person (sounds a lot like my dad...love ya man!). Another voice that God uses to speak things in my life has been my students @ NUNATION. Sometimes it's what they say in reponse to a message, but a lot of times it's when we're just hanging out talking about life and then they surprise me by something they say or something they did. And it makes me think, "Hey, that was pretty awesome. There's a lot of wisdom in what they just said, or spiritual maturity in what they just did." I had a student come tell me recently that he's decided to not play a sport this spring. It's not that he doen't like the sport any more. It's just not his focus. To me, to make a decision like that shows maturity. I'm quite certain that this decision was hard and took time to make. What my student was doing was weighing the cost. He took a moment to examine his life and saw areas that needed focus and saw things he could do without. Made the call and his life became a little more lighter.

Keeping the important things in life important is a daily choice to keep your priorites in check. I'm sure I'll have days when my priorities will gets out of whack, but it's my heart's desire to see my relationshp with my family, friends and students stay at the top and in balance. It's about weighing the cost...understanding where I put my focus helps me to know where and what I'm willing to sacrifice in order to achieve what's most important in my life.

(For those wondering where God is...he's in everything I do. The driving force in seeing my relationships grow. God is not a priority...he's at the very center of who I am.)

12 Days of Fast: Day 2

Feb 14: Acts 20:24 "My Life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus- the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God." God has a general purpose and a specific purpose for our lives. Your general purpose is to let God's love and light shine out from you to influence people for God's Kingdom. You do this with a pure motive. It's not about increasing our numbers at NUNATION or keeping score on how many people you can get into a relationship with Jesus...like it's some kind of competition. It's all about seeing your friends, family or the lonely, broken, hurting students at school begin to see that their life has worth and meaning when found in a relationship with Jesus.  God's grace is for everyone! I want to challenge you as you experience His grace on a daily basis to share that experience with your closest friends. Let them know how much God means to you...because that's what friends do right? They share what's most important in their lives because it matters to them. Next month we'll look at this idea of what a specific purpose is all about. Don't forget to review the Fast Plan to get an idea on how to spend your time today with God.

-Pick what meal I'm going to FAST

-Get alone somewhere where there is little to no distraction

-Silence my cell phone

-Get my Bible out and turn to the scripture verse

-Ask God to speak to my heart and mind

-Pause and let what was just read soak in

-Read over my thoughts

-Pause and just sit still for a moment and think about what God might be saying to me

-Share what's been going on in my life with God

For My Link Leaders

I've been reading the book, "What is God Really Like?" and in one of the chapters written by John Burke he makes a few statements that really messed me up and I wanted to share it with you in hopes that it would do the same.

"God is a God of mercy and compassion, and he wants people to know he's for them, not against them. But for that to happen in our cities, we have to let things get messy in the church...if we're going to create an environment where messy, broken people can come together and let God grow them into the people he intended, we have to become like God, who is merciful...instead of focusing on the external, messy behaviors of others, we must focus on helping them see what God sees in them that was worth dying for."

There are countless MS/HS students who are held hostage by the enemy. And the wild thing is, for many, they don't even know they're being held captive from an abundant life that's found ONLY in Jesus. I don't know about you, but praying that God would make our student ministry "messy" scares the daylights out of me. But when I read about the life of Jesus, that's exactly what he did. He never approved the mess the people were in, but understood the importance of loving them, sharing the truth, and letting them know they didn't have to remain a captive. 

I want all my Link Leaders to start praying that God will begin to prepare us for a great move of God at NN. Because when that happens we will experience students who have a lot of mess in their lives. We are to be patient and loving. Caring about them even when they are difficult and my cause issues here and there. BUT WE WILL NOT in any way neglect the hurting lives of teenagers.

So be ready! It's time for us to step up our game. There'll be more required of you, more help will be needed, changes will be made, but the God who sees it all will give us the wisdom and strength to accomplish it all.